This polish is officially described as a medium lilac scattered holo with sparse silver microshimmers, and the color appears to be smack dab at the heart of my perpetual confusion over the differences between lilac and lavender. Generally, I think of lilac as more purple, lavender more violet. In other words, there's more red to lilac, more blue to lavender. But Trollstigen appears to straddle the two. It is similar to the lilac from the ISCC-NBS color list, also known as pale lilac, which itself is almost indistinguishable from the lavender of that same list, also known as pale lavender.
Six of one, half-dozen of the other? Perhaps. Sources aside, I'm going to call it like I see it: a lightened, creamy variation of floral lavender with a gentle blue cast, more purple than a periwinkle, without a mauve bone in its body. The holographic pigment and silver microshimmers give it a soft, subtle finely-grained visual texture that keeps it airy and dimensional, with occasional tiny sparks of silver or pale azure or pink when light hits it just right and a scattered, minimalist prismatic display in direct sun.
Application inspired a plaintive bit of painting angst. The consistency of Trollstigen is fluid, dense and creamy with a medium viscosity and a smooth glide over the nail, but it had a certain balkiness in terms of going where I wanted it to, as though it would rather stay on the brush than flow onto my nail. Where I would usually would rely on gravity and physics, it turned out to be much more effective just to use the tip of the brush and push it where I wanted it go, especially on the first coat. Whatever! I got it on there! Self-leveling properties are very good and pigmentation, very good to excellent. The opacity at one medium coat is impressive, but two ultimately delivers most even coverage as well as full bottle color. Trollstigen dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat does not appear to affect the holographic properties at all.
Photos show two coats of Trollstigen over basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.
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| Elevation Polish Trollstigen |
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| Elevation Polish Trollstigen |
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| Elevation Polish Trollstigen |
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| Elevation Polish Trollstigen |
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| Elevation Polish Trollstigen |
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| Elevation Polish Trollstigen |
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| Elevation Polish Trollstigen |
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| Elevation Polish Trollstigen |
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| Elevation Polish Trollstigen |
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| Elevation Polish Trollstigen |
Another wonderful spring shade, elegant and soulful and not a pastel. Huzzah! Definitely worth the angsty application pique.
The name Trollstigen, Norwegian for "Troll's Path," comes from a narrow, serpentine section of Norway County Road 63 that winds up a steep mountainside via eleven hairpin turns and crosses the picturesque Stigfossen waterfall. Designated a National Tourist Route, with a museum and viewing platforms at its plateau.
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| hairpins on the Trollstigen road, Norway |
love,
Liz
